While sailing to weather in waves, the bowman should keep an eye on the top leeward tell tale on the jib. If it ever stalls, there is not enough twist in the jib, and the effect can be a bad case of the slows...

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Wednesday Night Sailboat Races on Clear Lake!!

Gee whiz, kiddies, It is February

TIME TO REGISTER TO SAIL

Tentative dates for CLRA events are shown on

Events Calendar, Top Right Menu.

OK a few highlights:

The NOR is available

Registration is open. Please log in (see menu on the right) before registering and REMEMBER YOUR PASSWORD. This may allow me to simplify next year's registration. It is not required! So if you are skittish about such things, ignore this request.

The first of our Winter Seminars was held Feb 13 and about 25 people showed up to hoist a few and listen to Alex Crowell of Bahama Rigging discuss a few pointers on preparation of boat and crew, including a bit of show and tell with mangled parts found on supposedly ready local boats.

The next Seminar will be Feb 27, and Farley Fontanot will talk about Sails, care, maintenance, management, set-up and trim thereof, or anything else you may ask him about making your boat go fast on Wednesday nights.

Finally, the third seminar on March 13 will give Scott a chance to go over the courses and how to sail them, along with free-form "question and answer" about things relating our operations on Wed nights.

Anyone who wants results data for previous years, request it through "contact us".

January 31 is the date for removal of last year's results from view on the web site.

End of the year party September 26 Drinking starts 6-ish, First Award starts later Y'all Come Lets have a super turnout See menu at left to sign up for the party And nominate for awards NOTICE BELOW

The end of the year awards, Best Crew, Sportsmanship, Most Improved, and yes, even the mighty Aaargh! Award, may only be given out if there are two conditions met. There must be nomination, and there MUST be Testimonial. Without nomination, there will be no award. Without a pretty clear and compelling statement of the reasons for the award being deserved, we can’t give it out. In the next day or so I will open up a nomination form.

‘When we say compelling, we mean things that require more than just showing up. And do it soon.

The end of year party will be held September 26 at the Villa Capri. The party is OPEN to all participants and attendance is up to you. We recommend also inviting friends, family, neighbors, and others. We would appreciate it if Skippers would give us a rough head count via "Contact Us". It helps with our planning. More on the party later.

\Remember, all scores from Series 5 used in annual fleet championship are doubled, and none are thrown out. Series championship scores are not doubled and one throwout applies. YTD update done.

Super Simplified High Point Scoring: Score is the number of boats at the start for first and one less for each place after that or just look at the table in Appendix B of SI.

Race 4 Series 3 is done. Great weather despite threats at 330. Series 4 coming up. Bring a friend. Have fun.

btw all races posted now.

OK by now you all know that the unthinkable has happened and S3R3 was cancelled. For those who might have doubted, tons of rain, lightning and no wind seemed like good enough excuses, so it was called off. See you next week for S3R4.

Some people have registered to use the web site and thought they met the requirement to register to race. Nope. Unless you have filled out the form telling us important stuff like sail number and boat type and class, you are not registered and will not be recognized.

A word on unregistered boats. A boat that has not registered on-line (whether paid or not), will have its time recorded, but the result will be a code of "NR" which carries a point value of zero(0). When the boat is registered on-line (Most smartphones can do it) and we have credible evidence of payment (like cash in Scott's hand or equal), we will remove the NR code and use the finish time to recalculate results. If you did well, a whole class can get re-arranged. Please register in advance and save us the fuss.

Sorry about being offline. It was a technical issue relating to upgrades in our website software technology that required minor changes for us to be up to date. Sort of the reminds me of how fussy the interface to computers used to be(yes, I am a dinosaur).

The finish line rule change needs an update to match the RC practice. SI 12.1 (below) is now modified. (Scott cleared this up for me, and the story has changed again). What follows is the intended new practice.

12.1 The normal Finish Line for all classes (when their shorten course is in effect) shall be between an orange flag on a pole floating near the Villa Capri dock and the large” “Boater’s Resale Shop” finish/turning mark (near the Villa Capri dock). The “Boater’s Resale Shop” finish/turning mark shall be taken to port (on left side of the boat).This modifies RRS 32.2a

The floating pole with an orange flag is serving as an offset mark to guide boats around a submerged object near the finish line. We will add the following rule, 12.4 to that section. This rule is in effect for now.

12.4 A floating pole with an orange flag attached will be about 10-15 feet from the end of the Villa Capri dock to act as one end of the finish line when the shorten course flag is in effect. Contact with the pole is an automatic 30% scoring penalty, and contact sufficient to dislodge it from its tether is an automatic disqualification without hearing. The space between the flag and dock is an obstruction while boats are racing.

The May 2nd race was breezy (and the Vatican is a nice church...) Just as the announcer was talking about the fine skill and professionalism of the J22 fleet, one of the skippers decided to go for a swim while their crew marked the spot by waving the spinnaker off the top of the mast like a big red flag. Fortunately the only thing injured were a few egos. It was a great night for racing and even the most bedraggled looking board boat sailors could be seen smiling at the finish. Even Scott Tuma was out flirting with the sound barrier on his catamaran. What a show!

The competitor list is available to those who log in on the web site. Unlike past years it is a one-time thing, not an ongoing regular update.

IMPORTANT Notices posted here are official. The RC is planning changes to the finish area because of discovery of a sunken tree near the finish line. Starting May 2, the dock end of the finish line will be an orange flag on a floating (MOB-type) pole about 10-15 feet off the end of the Villa Capri dock. Currently the Si says:

12.1 The normal Finish Line for all classes shall be between the white ‘Line’ or orange flag on the committee boat or on the Villa Capri dock and the large” “Boater’s Resale Shop” finish/turning mark (near the Villa Capri dock). The “Boater’s Resale Shop” finish/turning mark shall be taken to port (on left side of the boat).

The proposed change needs to be approximately as follows. We will hold off on formalizing until the system is proven. But it is in effect immediately."12.1 The normal Finish Line for all classes shall be between an orange flag attached to a floating pole near the Villa Capri dock and the large "Boater’s Resale Shop” finish/turning mark (near the Villa Capri dock). The “Boater’s Resale Shop” finish/turning mark shall be taken to port (on left side of the boat).The floating pole will be about 10-15 feet from the end of the dock. Contact with the pole is an automatic 30% scoring penalty, and contact sufficient to dislodge it from its tether is an automatic disqualification without hearing. Competitors should consider the space between flag and dock to be an obstruction.

April 18, looked gloomy and a couple of rain splatters, but ended up just overcast with a nice breeze from the south. Excellent spectating conditions. For the whiners, your precious corrected times are there now. Here is what happened: One design and hcp get 5 items changed in the publishing part of sailwave, our scoring program. In case you had not noticed, the floor at Casa Mia is creaky and old and full of cracks into which things fall. and get lost. More easily this year than last, hence we say nothing....

Good. April 11 was the finest weather we have had in a while. Beautiful breeze, cool, and nice and sunny. What we like to call standard weather.

All results for unregistered boats go into LIMBO, meaning they are stored away and can come back, as soon as your boat is registered on-line and paid. See the Sailing Instructions. If your boat got a code of NR for results, it means you must register to race and pay to see results. All your data is safe and will come back when you are fully registered.

OK it's a week later and the weather forecast is incredible. Outstanding winds, bright sunshine, hardly a cloud...

So drop what you're doing and come on out. If not to sail, shame on you, but come on out and watch. See the FAQ for how and where. PS, you could even jump on a boat and crew.

btw: During Series 1 and Series 5, Some classes have a combined start, ie Catalina 22 with Non-spin, J24 with Spinnaker, etc. Classes that do not form properly may be permanently combined with others.

Wednesday night sailboat racing has begun for 2018. A bad storm North of Houston resulted in heavy winds and a threat of bad weather that kept a lot of folks away. As usual, people forget that we are not in Houston! A few boats came out and had a lot of fun.

Sailing instructions are posted now

WED NITE RACING IS COMING UP NEXT WEEK

RACING 4 April

Working on the web site so a few t hings aren't perfect

REGISTRATION IS OPEN

THE NOR/SI IS UP

Course schematics are up

Competitor list not working

IT IS NOW TIME TO REGISTER TO RACE IN 2018, NOW, YOU ALL.

Use 'contact us' to make other website or SI suggestions.

Check out the new 'Frequently asked Questions' menu

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About this time of year we ask for nominations to receive our various annual awards, aka Best(crew, sportsmanship, costumes, set decoration, and the like), which you ignore just as you ignore the academy awards for all that technical stuff. Once again we ask, with one caveat. Absent nominations, we will either not award the prizes or we will throw names in a hat and may award the wrong people.

by the way, a nomination must include a valid reason why. And "shows up" and "tries hard" are not valid reasons for these awards. Think on it and please nominate someone... See sailing instructions for actual category. Vote early and often.

Race 4 tonight ends series 2. No racing next week, June 7. Come on out tonight and celebrate the Summer doldrums.

Another great night of racing.. Good wind. a little cooler, and fabulo0us racing. We are still working on some of the scoring for tonight, but most crises are managed. Consider the Corinthian sport of sailing alive and well. Tonight 10-15 people voluntarily corrected their scores to make them worse.

It was a great night for sailing. Lessons were given in a certain large class by a couple of the best. I think 6-8 people thought they were going to win tonight in the J22 class, but there can be only one. Strong persistent breeze, a little cooling, and its a good sail. Series one awards were handed out.

We are working on the frequently asked questions section. Lots of people submit questions on our contact us line, and John or Scott usually answers. I am going through the questions looking for ones of general interest.

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Racing tonight May 10, this is a new series, Welcome new competitors

Further changes unlikely till May 8. If you have an issue, please send in an email, but don't expect to have free time till then. Lo and behold, free time. J22 and NSB are 'fixed' according to what I have been told. Just me and the other mushrooms down here...See you May 10 for series 2

Raining now, but humans, sailboats, and most RC members are waterproof, so unless we hear thunder, racing is 'on'. Once again, because of early sunset we will combine starts for like classes, so keep alert in the starting area.

Good wind, but from the wrong direction, and a little gusty...which rhymes with dusty, a word that describes the mental state of several competitors, which includes many notable Skippers who arrived at the Villa Capri three hours early for the awards party. Excuses ran like water. Too windy, low water, my dog would not eat my homework.... Nowhere is it written that Sailors differ from fishermen when it comes to enhancing stories.

There were also bumper boats. Fortunately no injury or damage, but... Folks, we are very close to changing the rules to severely penalize any contact. Not there yet, but...

And finally please register on-line. Paying is nice(Scott loves it), but our whole mechanism of tracking and scoring relies on getting your data into the system. You are not officially racing until registered on-line. Your SI states it, making it as much of a rule as Port/Starboard. Thank you.

Registration is open. Time to sign up! Racing starts April 5

***Discount annual registration is now closed

***New Sailing Instructions issued

You may now register for a Novice version of Portsmouth.

We have added two very useful summaries of the rules changes to the articles to read list,

see left side menu

The one by Dave Perry is a little more complete and is organized in order of your rule book. The one from Quantum is also by a prominent writer, Bryan Willis, from the UK, who has a little different perspective. Wednesday night March 15, John Butler will lead a few exercises to address some of the issues. Please review these ahead of time and bring your questions. btw, Dave Perry's course on rules and tactics is recommended.

Remaining pre-racing Wednesdays:

March 29 Skipper's meeting/party/Discussion of SI's

April 5 Series 1 Race 1

We may test some things so check back if it doesn't work.

Results will be turned off this week use 'contact us' to request copies if needed